Analysis of Plane Stress

Text Book Reference:

Elements of Strength of Materials by S. P. Timoshenko and D. H Young
[Page Nos. 173-178 of Fifth Edition]

Module 2 (Analytical Method)

• Consider a biaxial stress element ABCD given in Fig. 4(a) in which a plane AE
whose normal (n) makes an angle of θ with the x-axis is shown. This plane is
termed as θ -plane.
• Fig. 4(b) shows the wedge-shaped element ABE obtained by retaining the bottom-
left portion of the element shown in Fig. 4(a). In Fig. 4(b), all the stress components
are shown including the normal (σ ) and shear (τ ) stress components (both shown
in positive sense) on the θ -plane, that would be required for equilibrium for the
wedge-shaped element.
• Let the infinitesimal area of the inclined face (AE) of the wedge be dA and hence the
area of the x- and y-face of the element would be dA cosθ and dA sin θ .
• Fig. 4(c) shows the free body diagram of the wedge-shaped element where all the
forces are shown. Note that the forces are obtained by multiplying the stress
components with the respective area of action.
 Fig. 4
• For equilibrium of the element ABE (Fig. 4(c)), we apply ∑F n = 0, ∑F = 0
t (i.e.,

force equilibrium equations along any two orthogonal directions i.e., n- and t-
directions).
• We will now expand these equations.

∑F =0
n
⇒ σ ( dA ) = (σ x dA cosθ ) cosθ + (σ y dA sin θ ) sin θ − (τ xy dA cosθ ) sin θ − (τ xy dA sin θ ) cosθ
• ⇒ σ = σ x cos 2 θ + σ y sin 2 θ − 2τ xy cosθ sin θ [∵ dA ≠ 0]
⎛σ +σ y ⎞ ⎛σx −σ y ⎞
⇒σ = ⎜ x ⎟+⎜ ⎟ cos 2θ − τ xy sin 2θ (1)
⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠

∑F = 0
t
⇒ τ ( dA ) = (σ x dA cosθ ) sin θ − (σ y dA sin θ ) cosθ + (τ xy dA cosθ ) cosθ − (τ xy dA sin θ ) sin θ
⇒ τ = (σ x − σ y ) cosθ sin θ + τ xy ( cos 2 θ − sin 2 θ ) [∵ dA ≠ 0]
⎛σ −σ y ⎞
⇒τ = ⎜ x ⎟ sin 2θ + τ xy cos 2θ (2)
⎝ 2 ⎠
• In deriving Eqs. (1) and (2), the following trigonometric identities are used:
1 + cos 2θ 1 − cos 2θ sin 2θ
cos 2 θ = , sin 2 θ = , cosθ sin θ =
2 2 2
• Hence, the stress components acting at the θ -plane (Fig. 4) are given by Eqs. (1) and
(2).
• The normal (σ ′ ) and shear (τ ′ ) stress components acting on a plane, which is
orthogonal to θ -plane, are obtained by putting θ = θ + π / 2 in Eqs. (1) and (2), and
those expressions are given by
⎛σx +σy ⎞ ⎛σx −σ y ⎞
• σ′ = ⎜ ⎟−⎜ ⎟ cos 2θ + τ xy sin 2θ (3)
⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
⎛σx −σ y ⎞
τ ′ = −⎜ ⎟ sin 2θ − τ xy cos 2θ (4)
⎝ 2 ⎠
• Clearly τ ′ = −τ as these two are complementary shear stresses.
• So the stress components acting on an element which is obtained by rotating the given
biaxial stress element (given in the x-y plane) by an angle θ is shown in Fig. 5
(assuming σ and σ ′ are tensile, and τ is positive i.e., giving CW moment).

• Clearly, our first objective (objective 1) is achieved.

Fig. 5

• Moving on to our second objective (objective 2), we need to find maximum and
dσ
minimum normal stress, i.e., σ max and σ min . To do that, we put = 0 using Eq. (1).
dθ
 dσ
=0
• dθ
2τ xy
⇒ tan 2θ p = − (5)
σx −σ y

• Clearly, Eq. (5) gives two values of 2θ p which are 1800 apart. Or, two values of θ p

which are 900 apart, out of which one corresponds to σ max and the other corresponds to
σ min . These two stress values i.e., σ max and σ min are together called principal stresses
(also commonly denoted by σ 1 and σ 2 ). This is the reason, the subscript ’p’ has been
used to denote the corresponding planes of the principal stresses in Eq. (5). These
planes denoted by θ p are called principal planes.

• Putting the expression of θ p from Eq. (5) into Eq. (1), we get the expressions for

σ max and σ min , which are given by

2
⎛σ +σy ⎞ ⎛σx −σ y ⎞
σ max,min = σ 1,2 =⎜ x ⎟± ⎜ ⎟ + τ xy
2
(6)
⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
where the +ve sign corresponds to σ max or σ 1 and –ve sign corresponds to σ min or σ 2 .

• Next, as part of the second objective, we need to find the maximum and minimum
dτ
shear stress, i.e., τ max and τ min . To do that, we put = 0 using Eq. (2).
dθ
dτ
=0
dθ
• σx −σ y
⇒ tan 2θ s = (7)
2τ xy

• Clearly, Eq. (7) gives two values of 2θ s which are 1800 apart. Or, two values of θ s
which are 900 apart, out of which one corresponds to τ max and the other corresponds to
τ min . These two stress values i.e., τ max and τ min are called maximum in-plane shear
stress and minimum in-plane shear stress respectively (henceforth though the phrase
“in-plane” will not be used for τ max and τ min , it is implied that these two parameters are
 indeed associated with the term “in-plane”). Again the subscript ‘s’ has been used in
Eq. (7) to emphasize that θ s corresponds to maximum or minimum shear stresses. The
corresponding planes denoted by θ s are called the planes of maximum or minimum
shear stress.
• Putting the expression of θ s from Eq. (7) into Eq. (2), we get the expressions for
τ max and τ min , which are given by
2
⎛σ −σ y ⎞
τ max,min =± ⎜ x ⎟ + τ xy
2
(8)
⎝ 2 ⎠
where the +ve sign corresponds to τ max and –ve sign corresponds to τ min . Clearly, τ max
and τ max are of same magnitude but with opposite sign as these are complementary
shear stresses.
• Now let us see what would be the shear stress on the principal planes (θ p ) and what

would be the normal stress on the planes of maximum/minimum shear stress ( θ s ).

• To see the first one (what would be the shear stress on the principal planes ( θ p )), we

2τ xy
put τ = 0 in Eq. (2), giving tan 2θ p = − . It means that the principal planes
σx −σ y
correspond to the planes of zero shear. This can also be shown by putting Eq. (5) into
Eq. (2) which gives τ = 0 .
• To see the second one (what would be the normal stress ( σ s ) on the planes of
maximum/minimum shear stress ( θ s )), we put Eq. (7) into Eq. (1) which gives
σx +σy
σs = (9)
2
This is the value of normal stress on the planes of maximum/minimum shear stress,
which is clearly not zero unless σ x = σ y = 0 . This is unlike the previous case where the

principal planes have got zero shear stress always.

• To see the angular relations between the principal planes (θ p ) and the planes of

maximum/minimum shear stress ( θ s ), we multiply Eq. (5) with Eq. (7), and we get the
following
tan 2θ p × tan 2θ s = −1 (10)

Clearly it shows that the planes of 2θ p and 2θ s are 900 apart, and hence the principal

planes ( θ p ) and the planes of maximum/minimum shear stress ( θ s ) are 450 apart. So θ p

and θ s planes are orthogonal to each other.

• Fig. 6 below shows the rotated biaxial differential stress element showing the principal
planes (assuming θ p is CCW from the x-plane, and assuming both σ 1 and σ 2 are

tensile). Fig. 6 also shows the rotated biaxial differential element showing the θ s planes
(assuming θ s is CW from the x-plane, and σ s to be non-zero and tensile).

Fig. 6 [Correction: θ p + θ s = π / 4 ]